Man who barricaded himself in Verizon store found dead

A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department vehicle is seen at a shopping… (KTLA )

An armed man who barricaded himself inside a Verizon store in La Crescenta on Friday apparently took his own life, police said, though an investigation continued.

The standoff began about 5 p.m. when the man barricaded himself in the cellphone store at the Marketplace Shopping Center in the 2600 block of Foothill Boulevard, a a Los Angeles County sheriff's station spokeswoman said.

Before entering the Verizon store, the man apparently first robbed a Rite Aid store in the same shopping center, one shopper told The Times.

Rachel Belofsky of Sunland said that when she and her mother walked into the Rite Aid, she heard staff members calling the police.

She went to the pharmacy and said the “pharmacist was shaking” and told her “the guy robbed them for drugs” and ran out of the store.